New Heaven, New Earth and New Commandment

Fr. Milanese is a good teacher. He is able to draw out the common thread that runs through the three readings today so as to help the parishioners make the Bible messages relevant in our daily life.

In the first reading of Acts 14:21-27, we read of the busy itinerary of Ss. Paul and Barnabas who set up new Christian communities and appointed elders to overlook them. In the future, these elders would develop into bishops, a new institution within the growing Church. Of course this is nothing new to us nowadays because we have been living with it for nearly two thousand years. And we are sure that this will continue until the end of the world.
In Revelation 21:1-5, we read of the new heaven and new earth where there will be no more sea! This is radical and totally unimaginable, a total break and discontinuity with the life on earth as we know of today. All of us will live in the new Jerusalem where God will wipe away our tears and be with us forever. So, the end of the world will give birth to a totally new existence beyond our understanding.
In the short gospel reading of John 13:31-35, Jesus gave us a new commandment: that we love one another. At first sight, there is nothing new in this commandment because in the Old Testament, we are told to love our neighbour as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18). What is new is the way we love one another: love one another just as Jesus has loved us. To be explicit, we love one another so much so as to lay down our life when the circumstances demand. Immediately this brings to mind the heroic martyrdom of Father Maximilian Kolbe who volunteered to die for a young man, a total stranger in the German Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz in 1941. Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, we are confident that when we give up our lives, God is able to restore our lives to a higher level of being. This much is our faith and our hope. We can achieve it through charity, through loving each other.

However, one thing troubles me. Jesus gave this new commandment after Judas had left. I wonder whether Judas had been excluded from this new commandment. That is to say we love one another, but not traitors. However, were Judas truly excluded, how would our love been complete? You may argue that Judas excluded himself out of his free will. Nobody, not even God, forced him to reject and betray Jesus. Love is a relation and is at least bilateral. If people reject our love, can we force them to love us in return? Of course not. If Judas rejected God, could God still force His grace upon Judas to save him? I am not sure. Perhaps God would still save Judas in a way we would never understand. Judas remains an enigma in Christianity. The role God assigns him must be more than a traitor. Perhaps his role is to challenge our charity. Remember that Jesus washed his feet in the Last Supper (John 13). Judas also had eaten the body and blood of Jesus before he left (Luke 22:19-23). If the thief crucified together with Jesus could gain entry into paradise at the last minute, the more so could Judas gain a chance to repent before he hanged himself and died. I am sure Jesus still loved the traitor. Can we Christians not love those who hurt us? Loving our enemy must be a key to bring out the new heaven and new earth. We cannot give up too easily.

Our domestic helper has left and returned to the Philippines this morning and we have had difficulty hiring another maid to help us with the house chores and take care of my elderly parents. The whole family will surely face a lot of inconveniences, at least before a new maid can arrive. However, with God's grace, this gives our family a good opportunity to support each other and love each other more. The children are eager to lighten up the burden of their mother. God's grace has never left us. Alleluia.

Dear Risen Lord, may Your resurrection carry us to scale greater heights of spiritual life. Amen.

Hearing Jesus' Voice

The gospel today began with this:
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27).
Vaguely, I can hear Jesus' voice. There have been times when my mind is peaceful and I can faintly feel that Jesus speaks to me, not with my hearing but which of the senses I cannot identify. Perhaps it is my heart. The feeling is faint and sometimes I shut it off. I have been rebellious perhaps.

Here lies the tension. I am sure God respects my freedom. He does not impose. Alas! Life would have been much easier had God imposed. He expects total obedience, complete surrender of my will. Yet, I still hang on stubbornly with my own will. Letting go is not easy for me. So, most of the time, I lose contact with God.

Jesus knows me. He knows my being. I am sure He has been trying hard to get me connected. I am sure He will never give me up. He must have sent me a lot of supports and I understand that there are many obstacles between us. The ball is in my court now. It is my turn to clear these obstacles.

There is a gap between hearing and following. To bridge the gap, I know that I need to let go, to surrender my will and to obey completely. But where can I find the strength to do so? I find it in the firmness of Jesus' tone. Though He did not mention the Holy Spirit in the verse above, I am sure the Holy Spirit He has given me is stirring my soul to embrace His call.

I faintly hear that Jesus tells me to reach out to my neighbour. There, I will find Him beckoning to me, drawing me nearer to hear Him better. Gosh, it is not easy for me to focus but I will try. So, help me Lord.

Dear Lord, I believe that You and the Father are one. You are my God and my Lord. I want to surrender. So, help me Lord. Amen.

我信唯一、至聖、至公、從宗徒傳下來的教會

The following is my second sharing/homily on Sunday. I still made the mistake of being too eager and too stuffy. I was able to see the clock on the wall. So, I skipped some paragraphs and simplified others on the spot. Still, I spoke for more than 15 minutes.

God bless me.

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復活期第三主日（丙年讀經）講道

【主題：我信唯一、至聖、至公、從宗徒傳下來的教會】

今天的福音有很豐富的反省材料，它記載著復活了的耶穌，約了他的門徒到加里肋亞會合。不久前，門徒捨棄了一切，跟隨耶穌進入京城耶路撒冷，準備建立天國，幹一番大事。如今祗能靜悄悄地潛回故里，無功而還。苟存性命已算是不幸中之大幸。閑來納悶，倒不如問問一些鄉里，借條船捕漁去，結果有意外的收獲。今日，我們一起默想這個意外的收獲。就是153條大魚的意義。聖經的內容很少能夠不証自明，它是須要人去解釋的，尤其須要有聖德的聖人解經，而不是每個人可以隨便地穿鑿附會的。對於153這個數字，最初幾個世紀的教父，已發表過不少的高見。

例如，將聖經翻譯成拉丁文的聖葉理諾說153是當代的人所認識的魚類總數。「漁網」象徵「教會」，「153條魚」象徵「全人類」。所以，教會是至公的。

另一位聖人聖濟利祿，他曾大力反對動搖天主聖三道理的「亞略異端」。他認為100代表外邦人，50代表猶太人，150代表了全人類，而3代表天主聖三！天主的教會豈可沒有天主聖三呢？沒有天主聖三的教會又怎可以唯一而至聖呢？

大家一定聽過大名鼎鼎的聖奧思定。他可謂天才橫溢，他竟然看到153是從1加到某個數的總和！不如，我們一起計一計。1+2等如3，1+2+3等如6，1+2+3+4等如10等等…。好了，運用公式，1加到10等如55，1加到15等如120，1加到20等如210。所以，聖奧思定心目中的數目在15同20之間…

對！答案是17。是十加七。「十」象徵「天主的十誡」，「七」象徵「聖神的七恩」。聖奧思定引用聖保祿宗徒致《格林多人後書》的說話：「因為文字叫人死，神卻叫人活。」（格後3：6）所以，無論怎樣遵守誡命亦祗會徒勞無功，惟有憑藉聖神七恩履行天主的誡命纔可令人得救、令人成聖。這「漁網內153條魚」就象徵了「在教會內憑藉聖神七恩履行天主誡命而得救成聖的人」。所以，教會是至聖的，而且是由宗徒傳下來的。且看，漁網是由伯多祿拉上岸的。

伯多祿是「宗徒之長」，在福音和《宗徒大事錄》中，他經常代表所有的宗徒發言。由伯多祿把漁網拉上岸，象徵著教會是由宗徒傳下來的。而且，又反映出伯多祿在宗徒團體中的首席地位。因此，伯多祿的繼承人，即歷代的教宗亦同樣佔有普世主教團的首席地位。教宗方濟，就是普世教會的第266代掌門人。

根據《宗徒大事錄》的記載，教會是在五旬節聖神降臨的時候，在耶路撒冷誕生。首先奉教的自然就是猶太人。因著聖神的推動，耶路撒冷的信徒團體蒸蒸日上，招致猶太公議會的迫害。第一個殉道者就是聖斯德望，跟著就是聖若望的兄弟雅各伯。下一個目標當然是「宗徒之長」的伯多祿。因為教難，門徒開始離開耶路撒冷，向世界出發，向外邦人傳福音。敘利亞的安提約基雅教會成為向外邦人傳教的基地。就在那裡，信耶穌的人第一次被稱為「基督徒」（宗11：26）。

以聖保祿為例，他奔波勞碌，每到一處便傳道施洗，建立信仰團體，並為它們選立合適的長老與及監督，把信仰團體交由他們牧養、發展。然後又繼續向下一站出發。這些長老與及監督，就成為了後來的主教，他們就是宗徒的繼承人。聖保祿離開後並沒有掉下不顧他一手建立的教會。聖保祿寫信給他們，安慰鼓勵他們，處理他們在信仰上及生活上的問題。各位宗徒所寫的書信或者耶穌傳，有些散失了，能保存下來的，就搜集成為今日的新約聖經。

賴天主的助佑與及聖伯多祿聖保祿兩位宗徒的努力，教會終於在帝國的心臟羅馬，建立了立足點。其實，當時所謂的「教會」祗不過是信徒的團體，組織並不嚴密。可以想像，在第一世紀末，環繞著地中海一帶的歐洲，小亞細亞，中東，非洲北部的埃及，與及由多默宗徒與巴爾多祿茂宗徒傳福音所到的印度南部，分佈著大小不一的信仰團體，開始發展它們的傳統。經過二百多年不同程度的教難，有些團體消失了，有些進一步團結成更強大更有組織的教會。因為地理、行政和政局的原故，羅馬的教會最後仍兀立不倒，成為團結世界各地教會的共融核心。當地方教會遇上問題的時候，都會向羅馬教會請示，而作為伯多祿繼承人的羅馬主教，亦樂意為他們解決疑難。

我們中國人對天主的認識，可能要追溯到沿絲綢之路走難來到中國開封的猶太人和在唐朝傳入中國的景教。元朝時來華的馬可孛羅再進一步吸引更多歐洲人到中國。到了公元1601年利瑪竇終於成功進入北京城，朝覲明朝神宗皇帝，並開始向士大夫傳教。中國始終是地大物博，以往在歐洲有效的，從皇帝貴族入手的傳教方法，在中國未必見效。中國本身已經有很深厚的文化，連印度的佛教亦被同化為有中國特色的佛教。所以基督宗教來華，要好像天主聖子降生成人一樣，既過著與中國人一樣的生活，亦同時聖化、基督化中國的文化。這一切有待我們這些中國天主教徒努力。

教會有教會的制度。一個地區首先是傳教區，再發展成為宗座監牧區，宗座代牧區，然後升格成為教區。澳門是葡萄牙的殖民地，開教超過四百多年。1576年教宗額我略八世頒定澳門教區，覆蓋全中國、日本、越南和馬來亞，香港亦成為澳門教區的一部份。直至1841年，香港脫離澳門成為宗座監牧區，若瑟神父成為香港首任的宗座監牧。1842年，香港的第一座教堂，聖母無原罪聖堂在威靈頓街奠基。1874年，香港發展成為宗座代牧區，高主教成為香港的第一任宗座代牧。1946年，教會的聖統制終於在中國成立，而香港亦由代牧區晉升為教區，恩理覺主教成為香港教區的第一任主教。繼後的有白英奇主教，徐誠斌主教，李宏基主教，胡振中樞機，陳日君樞機與及今天的湯漢樞機。1960年，青山堂區的範圍確立之後，成立了聖若翰洗者堂，在區內傳教。贖世主堂聖堂於1973年四月八日祝聖，到1979年七月一日升格為堂區。以上的資訊，大家可以瀏覽「天主教香港教區歷史建築探索」網頁。今期的公教報第3頁就刋登了它當選為2012年度「十大傑出網站」的報導。

每當教會遇到內憂外患的時候，天主總會在教會內召叫一些聖人聖女，去保護教會，革新教會。在復活節前夕詠唱的「諸聖禱文」中的聖人聖女，就是其中的佼佼者，大家認識他們有多少呢？這個就是由宗徒傳下來，信仰天主聖三，有聖經，有禮儀，有聖教法典，有傳統的至聖教會。我們以加入這個教會為榮。所以，請大家花些時間，多些認識這個值得驕傲，值得我們愛護的教會，我們的教區，我們的堂區，並且為耶穌的福音作見証。

天主保佑。

Homily on the 3^rd Sunday of Easter, Year C

Theme: I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

There is much to reflect on in today’s gospel. After his resurrection, Jesus made an appointment with his disciples to meet them in Galilee. Not long ago, the disciples had renounced all they had and followed Jesus to enter Jerusalem to build up the “Kingdom of God”, to do BIG BUSINESS. Now, they had to sneak back in silence to where they had come, making no achievement. They had to count themselves lucky to have survived the disastrous venture in Jerusalem. Now that they had no better thing to do, they took up what they had been doing before, borrowed a boat from their neighbour for a catch at Lake Tiberia. In the end, they had a surprise catch. Today, we will meditate together this surprise catch, the 153 big fishes. The contents of the Bible are not self-explanatory. They need our interpretation, especially the interpretation of those virtuous saints and not idle, flimsy speculations. The Church Fathers in the first few centuries had already expressed many good opinions.

For example, St. Jerome, who translated the Bible into Vulgate Latin, said that 153 is the total number of species of fish known at that time. If the net symbolizes the Church, 153 fishes would mean the whole humanity. So, the Church is Catholic, is universal and open to all.

Another holy man, Saint Cyril of Alexandria, who strongly opposed the Arian heresy --- a schismatic belief that denies the doctrine of Trinity, thought that 100 represented the Gentiles and 50 the Jews. So, 150 represented the whole humanity. And three represented the Blessed Trinity. How could the Church do without the Blessed Trinity? Without the Blessed Trinity, how can the Church be one and holy?

All of you must have heard of the famous St. Augustine. He was really ingenious in being able to see that 153 is a triangular number! Let us try to find the number. 1+2 is 3, 1+2+3 is 6, 1+2+3+4 is 10 etc. Using a formula, we know that 1 adds up to 10 is 55. 1 adds up to 15 is 120 and 1 adds up to 20 is 210. So, St. Augustine was thinking of an integer between 15 and 20 …

Right! It is 17. It is 10 plus 7. Ten symbolizes the Commandments of God and seven the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. St. Augustine quoted a passage from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, “…for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:6b). Therefore, it would be futile no matter how hard you observe the commandments. Only if we keep the law with the help of the gifts of the Holy Spirit can we be saved, be sanctified. Therefore, the 153 fishes in the net symbolize those souls in the Church who are saved and sanctified by observing the commandments in the spirit. See how the net was pulled up onto the shore by Peter. The Church is thus holy and apostolic because Peter is the Prince of the Apostles. According to the narratives in the gospels and the Acts, Peter always spoke for the rest of the Apostles. So, Peter’s pulling the net onto the shore shows that the Church is apostolic. Moreover, it also demonstrates the primacy of Peter among the Apostles. Therefore, the successors of Peter, the popes in subsequent ages also enjoy a primacy in the college of bishops worldwide. Pope Francis is the 265^th successor of St. Peter.

According to the Acts of the Apostles, the Church was born in Jerusalem with the Descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The first believers were naturally Jews. With the push from the Holy Spirit, the Jerusalem community flourished and invited the persecution from the Jewish Sanhedrin. The first martyr was St. Stephen. Then he was followed by James, the brother of John. The next target was logically Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. Because of persecutions, believers began to leave Jerusalem for the world outside, to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. The church at Antioch in Syria became the base of Gentile evangelization. It was in Antioch that believers in Jesus were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).

Take St. Paul as an example, he preached and baptized wherever he went. He built up a community of believers, chose elders and overseers to pastor and develop them. Then he moved on to the next stop. These elders and overseers later became bishops. They were successors of the apostles. St. Paul did not leave the churches he set up behind. He wrote to them to console and to encourage them, to deal with their doctrinal and ethical issues. Some of the letters and biographies of Jesus written by those apostles were lost. Those that were preserved were collected into the New Testament we have today.

With the help of God and the efforts of Ss. Peter and Paul, a stronghold was built up at the heart of the Empire, the Church of Rome. In fact, at that time, the so called “church” was only a community of loosely organized believers. You can imagine that at the end of the first century, there were communities of different sizes in regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, Europe, Asia Minor, Middle East, Egypt in North Africa and southern India evangelized by Ss. Thomas and Bartholomew, developing their traditions. After more than 200 years of persecutions, some communities vanished. Some consolidated into stronger and more organized churches. For geographical, administrative and political reasons, the Church of Rome remains standing to become the centre of communion of all churches in the world. When local churches met difficult issues, they would seek the opinion of the Church in Rome and the Roman Pontiff was glad to help them solve their problems.

We Chinese know about Yahweh perhaps from the Jewish refugees flocking into Kaifeng along the Silk Road and from the Nestorian Luminous Religion which came into China during the Tang Dynasty. The Travels of Marco Polo who met Kublai Khan stimulated more Europeans to visit China. At last, in 1601, Matteo Ricci successfully entered Beijing, the Forbidden City, to pay homage to WanLi Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and began his evangelization to the mandarins. After all, China covers a huge span of space. What worked in Europe, namely converting the kings and nobles to evangelize the whole tribe, might not work as effectively in China. China has her own established culture, and has even absorbed the Buddhism from India to create a Buddhism of Chinese flavour. So, when Christianity comes to China, it must incarnate like the Son of God who became man. Christians must live as Chinese live and at the same time, sanctify and Christianize the Chinese culture. This is the mission of Chinese Christians.

The Church has her jurisdiction. A territory begins as a missionary region, then an Apostolic Prefecture, Apostolic Vicariate and lastly a Diocese. Macau was a Portuguese colony and has known Christianity for more than 400 years. In 1576, Pope Gregory VIII made Macau a diocese covering China, Japan, Vietnam and the Malay archipelago. Hong Kong thus belonged to the Macau Diocese. In 1841, Hong Kong became an independent Apostolic Prefecture and Fr. Joset was the first Prefect Apostolic. In 1842, the foundation stone of the first Catholic Church in Wellington Street was laid. It was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1874, Hong Kong became an Apostolic Vicariate and Bishop Raimondi was the first Vicar Apostolic. In 1946, the Ecclesiastic Hierarchy of China was established and Hong Kong was elevated to a Diocese. Bishop Valtorta was installed the first bishop of the Hong Kong Diocese. He was succeeded by Bishop Lorenzo Bianchi, Bishop Francis Hsu Chen-ping, Bishop Lei Wang-kei, Cardinal John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kuen and Cardianl John Tong Hon. In 1960, the boundary of the Castle Peak parish was delineated, St. John the Baptist Chapel was built to evangelize the region. On April 8, 1973, the Holy Redeemer Church was built and blessed. It became a parish on July 1, 1979. The above information can be accessed on the Catholic Heritage website. On page 3 of the Kung Kao Po, issue #3608, you can find the report of this website winning the “Ten Most Meritorious Websites Award 2012”.

Whenever the Church is beset by internal crises and external threats, God will always summon some holy men and women to protect and to reform the Church. During the Easter Vigil, we sing the Litany of Saints who are some of the outstanding ones. How many of them do you know? This is the Apostolic Church which believes in the Blessed Trinity. This is the Holy Church which has her Bible, liturgy, Canon Law and Holy Tradition. We are proud of being one of her members. So, spend some time to learn more about this Church which is worth loving and being proud of, our diocese, our parish. Let us bear witness to the gospel of Jesus.

May God bless us all.

Learn from the blind, believing without seeing

I used to think that in a scientific world of today, we are justified to demand evidence for the proof of a certain fact/truth. We laugh at people of earlier ages who believed in things too easily before they found adequate proof. We look down on them because we think that they were unscientific and even superstitious. We support "doubting Thomas" and praise him as the first Empiricist when he did not believe in the testimony of his fellow apostles.

So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." (John 20:25)

Even though Jesus appeared again, inviting Thomas to put his fingers into his wounds and made the following exhortation,

Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." (v. 29)

we are still sympathetic towards St. Thomas. We feel that Thomas had done nothing wrong, nothing unreasonable and did not deserve such a humiliation before the rest of the disciples. So I thought until recently.

My mum is 84. Perhaps it is a matter of character flaws, or a matter of failing memory, she is very insecure. At this moment of writing, she is counting the bank notes in her purse next to me. Once every ten minutes or so after dinner, she asked to inspect the balance in the passbook of the bank in which she deposits her life saving, Actually, she has gone to bed already but she still climbs out to count and to inspect .... Now, I begin to understand what Jesus means when he says "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe". Poor mum! She cannot even believe in what she sees.

From my mum, I understand now that belief involves more than simply perception and intelligence. You perceive some objective physical evidence. You make logical deduction and reach a judgment. This judgment is your belief. However, belief also involves a sense of security. Ancient people might appear to be superstitious because they demanded less "objective, scientific and positivist" evidence in order to believe. From our standard and point of view, ancient people believed all too easily. They were easily fooled by the clergy or other authoritative figures. However, from their perspective, modern people are too neurotic. Modern people uproot their own sense of security by a rejection of their own tradition and a declaration of the death of God in order to reinvent one wheel after yet another wheel. Nowadays, people of modern and scientific mind find very few things to believe in because no hard evidence is enough to satisfy their security needs.

Now, I do not envy St. Thomas, the Empiricist anymore. It was a pity that he could not meet the risen Jesus during the first apparition. When all other disciples told him that they had seen the risen Lord, Thomas must have thought that the others were playing tricks on him. Jewish persecution was looming large outside. Here and now, the brethren were trying to make a fool of him. He must have demanded such an empirical test to defend his sense of security. I do not think Jesus wanted to embarrass St. Thomas by inviting him to do his "St. Thomas Test". He was being merciful in condescending his glory and dignity to meet Thomas' needs and ours, like his incarnation and crucifixion. So, learn from the blind. Only when our hearts are at peace can we believe without seeing.

Dear Lord, grant us, especially my mum, Your peace which this world cannot give (John 14:27). Amen.